Mobile Wars - Return of the Nokia?

I remember about 2 years back when any big mobile announcement used to happen it was either by Nokia about their N series devices which were *awesome* or by Apple about their iPhone. Now it’s all about Android, and the iPhone, No one really cares about what's happening to other brands, devices etc. and you can’t blame anyone. Nokia hasn’t been doing anything good. Since the N95, N95 8GB there haven’t been any brilliant devices by them, even the N97 had its flaws  image courtesy: dailymobile.se , http://images.dailymobile.se/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/n95.jpg Especially with the touchscreen devices, Nokia hasn’t been there. Symbian was renamed to ^3 and what not but I did not see any improvements that other devices had – namely the iPhone and Android. The changes were all minor and didn’t help much.

Today in this age of apps and appstores Nokia hasn’t made any changes to their ‘OVI Store’ . I remember using it on my Nokia N95 8GB when it newly released. It was full of bugs, I had to sign in EVERYTIME I opened it and browsed a few pages… The app sucked big time. But then the device also was getting old. N-gage gaming had failed, although it was a good start at a time when others didn’t have anything similar. My first Android device – the Samsung Galaxy i7500 was one brilliant device, although it ran Android 1.5 out of the box and Samsung almost disowned it once the newer devices were launched it did pretty well. Thanks to some awesome independent developers like ‘Drakaz’ the device can now have a Gingerbread ROM. Android being opensource you can do all sorts of things to it, Custom ROMS, kernels, CPU mods, etc. Even availability of apps is amazing. The appstore or ‘Market’ is brilliant, has a huge collection (Yea I know not as much as Apple) and slowly gets all those apps that Apple’s got. It’s pretty good and no wonder today it’s up there alongside Apple in the mobile OS wars. About Apple, I don’t need to write anything more, You ask almost anyone and there’s this craze to own an iPhone. And they do have their reasons. The iPhone 4 has BRILLIANT hardware. Although I’m not a fan of ‘iOS’ it does everything and you can’t really point out any flaws.

To come to think about it had Nokia adopted the Android OS it would probably be the BEST today. Nokia makes great hardware, great camera sensors. Thanks to Android many manufacturers have got a ‘New Life’ like Motorola, LG. Among all mobile phone manufactures I personally feel Apple, HTC, Nokia and Motorola have great hardware. Samsung still makes their phones plastic-ky, even the High-end ones.
Nokia especially in India is super popular, Android or not, Nokia is still doing very well in India. People here in India have this feeling of Nokia being ‘the best’ even today. These are the people who hardly care about the OS and apps etc. They’re very happy to have a nicely built Nokia phone that has a great camera. Now just imagine these devices having Android on it. I guess most of the youth and others would opt for Nokia and with Android on it the demand would be even more! Obviously making it No.1 in the business. And that is why Samsung, which you could say is No. 2 on the popularity list in a country like India could soon be the No. 1 mobile phone manufacturer, with their ‘Galaxy’ line up powered by android, I won’t be surprised.

So those were my predictions with Nokia and Android OS. Back to reality Nokia joining forces with Microsoft, to make Windows Phone 7 devices, I

  (image courtesy: www.techshrimp.com
http://techshrimp.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/microsoft-nokia-buying-phone-division.jpg) 

really don’t know how far they can go with that. Windows phone 7 still being the immature one, even though its GORGEOUS and has a modern UI. You can say Nokia will then be like Samsung was during the years 2007-09 with Windows Mobile phones like Omnia etc.. They could still make some differences if Windows Phone 7 gets frequent updates like ‘Mango’ which bring in cool stuff to the OS as they are lagging behind iOS and Android.

Nokia with their current line-up isn’t really going anywhere. The only Devices I would pick to be good are – The Nokia N8, E7 and C7. Also the C6-01 makes a great budget device

  (image courtesy: www.symbiantweet.com
http://www.symbiantweet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Nokia-World1.jpg) 

These phones have a great build quality and other hardware specs like power packed cameras 8MP, 12MP etc.
Also the ‘Anna’ update is now making them on par with the other devices out there. If I had to pick a Nokia device today, it would be among these 4. They are great devices and the pricing is pretty good too. So for a normal user these devices would be almost perfect, especially in India etc.
The more recent one like the X7 really looks hideous and that is not what is needed.

So for Nokia to comeback, according to me they basically need devices with specs like the fantastic four of their lineup – The N8, E7, C7 and C6-01 or better. Good designs. And most importantly – Windows Phone 7 or Meego whatever, but it should really do well with the basic stuff i.e.  - the apps and appstore. The N9 preview was good but we don’t know how its gonna work out. I still believe Nokia  can still make a comeback, whether they go ahead of Apple and others is still a question which most won’t be able to answer. So only the future can tell us what’s going to happen!

Nokia PC Suite Update

Nokia PC Suite has an update. Version 7.1.40.1 i.e. Nokia PC Suite 7.1 now has Windows 7 support and some Stability Fixes.
To update the software on your computer, Goto Nokia PC suite >  Web >  Check for updates. After checking for the updates you will be asked to Download and Install the new version.Or if you do not have Nokia PC Suite installed on your computer download it from here
Do you Still Use Nokia PC Suite? or have you Moved to OVI Suite?

Get 100 Tracks FREE from Nokia Music Store India

The Nokia Music Store India is giving away a 100 Free Music tracks as a Diwali bonus :D So all you registered users click here to download your 100 tracks for no price at all!

You can choose from Bollywood, Devotional, South and other categories in the store to download the tracks.

So click here and download your songs for free!

Happy Diwali everyone!

Nokia X series launched

Nokia has unveiled two devices of the new X series line up at Nokia World 2009 at Stuttgart Germany.

The Nokia X6 and X3 are the two phones of the X series.

Nokia X6:
The Nokia X6 is a device that runs the S60 5th edition software. It has a 5 megapixel camera, Powerful battery that provides upto 35 hours of music playback time, 3.2” screen (touch screen), 32 GB internal memory, GPS, FM radio, WLAN etc.
This touch screen operated device is really cool and looks really really good and design is sleek. Price about EUR459 which is about INR 32,000

CHECK full Specifications here

Nokia X3:

The Nokia X3 is a device that runs the S40 6th edition software. This device has a slide form factor and has a 3.2 megapixel camera, microSD slot that supports upto 16GB (2GB in sales package), this device can play FM radio WITHOUT any headset attached, (cool right?).

This device is priced at around 115EUR that's around 8,000 INR.

CHECK full Specifications here So what are your views and comments about the new X series? will one of the above phones be your next phone? Well the Nokia X6 is on my wishlist :D hopefully should be my next phone!

Nokia enters Netbook market

Nokia has unveiled its first Netbook – Nokia Booklet 3G. The Nokia Booklet 3G runs Windows 7. This mini laptop from Nokia has 3G, A- GPS, Bluetooth, Slots for SIM card, HDMI, Really good battery life of about 12 hours, HD quality, Mac book like looks and all this packed into a 10 inch netbook which is just 2 cm thick.

Check out the video:

So what are your comments on this step by Nokia, and the Booklet 3G ? do let me know!

Media Sharing on Nokia devices

Media sharing is a really cool way of sharing stuff to devices on a wireless home network.the best part is that some Nokia Nseries devices that are DLNA enabled (nokia n95,n95 8gb, n85 etc ) are also able to do the same! If you don’t know whether your nseries device is DLNA enabled, just check for the Home media app on your phone. if its there its all cool for you! (you can also check the user manual )

(if you find any errors etc please let me know by email, mailto: stephendsouza1985@hotmail.com )

PART 1. Sharing media stored on pc to Nokia device

This will help you make really good use of your DLNA enabled nokia devices. You can play music, view images and watch videos (stored on your pc,) on your nokia device via a wireless home network

All you need to do is the following steps:

1. Set up the Home media app on your DLNA enabled nokia device. You can find the app in the connectivity folder on your phone. 
2. Once in the app “run the wizard” from options to set up everything selecting access point etc.
3. Once that is done. you should set the phone to be visible in the network from “Home media > share content > visibility in network > show phone” 

Now that the phone has been set up, we need to enable media sharing on your computer.

In Windows Media player (Windows media player 11)for windows media player 12 jump to part 2 below.  do the following:

1. From the library tab select “Media sharing..” 
2. Then a new window opens up that looks like the one below. select the check boxes for “share my media to” you should be able to see your Nokia device by its name or as “unknown device”

Once that is done all you have to do now is Browse for media on your Nokia Phone in Home Media by selecting “Browse Home”  from “home media > browse home”

You should be able to see your pc name on which you enabled the media sharing.

Select it and then you can browse for the music, images and videos on stored on the pc right on your Nokia device!

There now you can play all the new songs, view images and videos on your nokia device! to play just hit options and “play >on device”

 

PART 2. : Sharing Media from Nokia Device to PC/ WLAN enabled devices etc. or other devices on Home Network

As far as I know It is NOT possible to share media from your Nokia device to a Windows computer running Windows media player 11 (if you know how please post in comments!). you will need the Simple Center Software ( Simple Center is also on the CD included on the sales package of your Nokia device)

Incase you are having the Windows 7 RC version (or other versions) installed you can still have much more fun with your Nokia device and media sharing. With Windows Media Player 12, sharing is even more better, So good that you can even use your Nokia device as a remote control to play music :D

Setting up media sharing on windows media player 12

1. From windows media player (windows media player 12) click on the stream tab and then select “allow remote control of my player…” and also “more media sharing options”

As you can see after clicking the “more streaming options” a new window opens up which looks like this

Allow the Nokia Device (or Unknown if the name is not displayed) to receive content.

Now on your Nokia device set up home media from the steps given in part 1. then select the content you would like to share from “home media > share content” and select the content you want to share.

Now you can browse home for songs on the pc or just go to the music player on your phone and in the tracks list select “options > play > on device (to play on your phone) OR via home network ( to play it on the pc) cool right? :P

 

As you can see in the above screenshots I am now playing (streaming the music to my pc) on my pc via my phone. and it works super fine! My nokia n95 8gb is now like a remote control.

In gallery if you wish to share an image perhaps browse to an image select options > show via home network

Similarly you can just browse the content of your pc via home media and select “via home network” to view it on the pc or other device available on the home network.

 

If any error occurs like the device is not visible etc. please check your windows firewall and anti-virus firewall so that its not blocking any known IP’s of your home network, or any media related processes.

(if you come across any errors, problems etc or even have better methods to do it  please let me know by email, mailto: stephendsouza1985@hotmail.com and I will post it here!! thanks )

Win a FREE Gravity License

For all who don’t know what gravity is, Its an AMAZING twitter client for your S60 device, below are the features:

Compatible with Twitter and Laconica

All functions available on your S60 phone: tweet, reply, DM, follow & unfollow, create favourites, search, auto-update and many more …

Tabbed view of your Timeline, Replies, Messages, Friends, …

Configurable Audio Alerts for Timeline/Replies/DM’s & Searches

Setup and use as many accounts as you want at the same time

Group support for creating custom tabs with user-defined filters

Twitter-Search section with multiple search tabs and Twitter Trends

Post pictures to MobyPicture, TwitPic, TwitGoo & Posterous

Preview pictures from MobyPicture, TwitPic or TwitGoo

Open URLs from any Tweet

Kinetic scrolling on S60v5 ( Nokia 5800 and Nokia N97 )

Theme support on S60v3 ( fixed dark and bright theme )

Full-Screen mode on S60v3

Built-in auto-update function and beta access for testing the latest features

 

My world Nokia have 4 free licenses to give away and you could be one of them, to know about this contest CLICK HERE .  The contest winners will be announced on the first of August. So head over there and try your luck!

Nokia PC Suite v7.1 Update

Nokia PC Suite has received another update. Nokia PC suite v. 7.1.30.8 is the latest one,The update includes some stability fixes and the Nokia Music Manager will be replaced by the Nokia Music software . You will be notified of the update if you already have Nokia PC suite and with update checks running OR when on Nokia pc suite click web > check for updates and add-ons. You can also download Nokia PC suite from here .

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

Today I got a chance to play with my friend's Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. Well I must say its a good looking phone with a LARGE screen that catches your eye!

I have played with a very few touchscreen phones and thus it wasn't so easy for me to navigate on the phone but I guess it was fine, after I learned the fact that I have to tap (touch) the phone a bit harder :P
The home screen looks great, the phone is very quick with no lags and transitions are good. The camera seemed to be fine and took good photos (SORRY I Couldn't get the pics here) only was a little grainy in the dark. Music was good as usual no doubt about that. The phone feels really good in the hand thanks to the design of the phone. Over all I would say the Nokia 5800 XM is a good package and would have been better if it had a better camera. Its price is quite reasonable too.

Happy Birthday Nokia Nseries Blog!

Today Nokia Nseries Blog is One year old!! It has been really nice to provide information to you people all through this year. thanks to all the people who posted their valued comments and read through the posts on this blog. Hoping to be able to provide you all with more info and stuff from the mobile world and would also like you to follow this blog on twitter!!
Follow Nokia Nseries Blog on twitter

Happy Birthday Nokia Nseries Blog!

Prestige (Solace) - Tehk

Found this really good looking theme with really good icons (Ovi style and Default) even having icons for 3rd party apps. I found it thanks to some tweets on twitter

Prestige (Solace) by tehk can be downloaded from here

Nseries hardware issues...

Today I got a new keypad (the upper part) for my Nokia N95 8GB as it was losing its chrome... I Don't know why Nokia makes these devices such a way that their chrome finish peels off after some time of use? We all know of the "Computer made beautifully" the N76... I still remember those days when I used the N76 which I had got out of utter excitement as it was the most good-looking smartphone at that time and I guess till today. It seriously had good looks but was of no use as the looks didnt last even 3 weeks. It was really sad to see the chrome peel off and you can do Nothing.
I guess the same material was used on the N95 and the N95 8GB which peel off after after like 6 months of usage. Well if Nokia wants their users to be more happy with the phones they buy then I think they should make this chrome thingy last more longer or get a new idea. No one likes a phone thats looks like a Clone/Duplicate one after 3-4 months of usage.
I had to shell out almost 500 Indian rupees to get the keypad replacement which is sad.Hope the future Nseries phones have better and tougher hardware.

VoIP on Nseries via Gizmo 5

Well yesterday thanks to my friend Arjun again I've started using VoIP on my Nokia N95 8GB via Gizmo 5. Yes Gizmo 5 is the site where you can register for a free Gizmo account and then download the installer file for your Nokia Nseries device from here. Once the installation is done, add your login details when prompted for and you can enjoy free calling to other Gizmo users from your Nokia device via wi-fi.

Sounds cool right ? Yes is sure is! I've tried it out and I love it! Well you can make:

• Free calls to other Gizmo users
• Free calls to gtalk users
• Calls to Skype users
• Calls to any landline or mobile number for a very small amount.

To call you need to key in the username of the person you would like to call for that, Simply press "1" and then "HOLD #" from the home screen till a blank space for you to key-in characters appears

1. now to call gimo users you just have to key in the username of the person
2. to call gtalk you have to key in username@gmail.com username is replaced with the username (id) of the person.
3. to call skype users you have to key in "skype_username" username is replaced with the username (id) of the person eg: skype_stephen
4. and to call anu other numbers you just dial the number and select "Internet Call" from options or from the contacts menu.

Here are some screenshots taken from my N95 8GB.


so are you gonna try out VoIP ?

N95 8GB, Nokia's Best ?

Today I was chatting with my friend Arjun, he was telling me about the phones he has used till now, Whoa! he has a BIG phone history! some of them were Nokia's N95, N95 8GB, N85, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic E71 etc.

Surprisingly he told me that his best was the Nokia N95 8GB. Even after having used phones like the N85, E71 and 5800 XM he still finds the N95 8GB a good package all together.

With a Good camera, Good sound, Wi-fi , GPS and VoIP, he feels the Nokia N95 8GB is the best. Well if you don't remember then let me remind you that when the Nokia N95 was released there was this advertisement that said "There is something in your pocket, but it's not one thing.... It's MANY" Well the N95 itself had a lot to offer proving the advertisement correct and then came the Big Brother Nokia N95 8GB version! with the better screen More memory (seriously MORE memroy) Black color, it cetainly stood out of the other phones available at that time. I'm pretty sure many people out there use this phone and I'm one of them. And yes now even I think that the N95 8GB is a complete package. So is the N95 8GB Nokia's best ? what do you think ?

WWIGO + Nokia device = Mobile Webcam

WWIGO is a application as it allows you to use your Mobile camera as a webcam with your bluetooth enabled computer! (laptop). It's true that today most laptops have built-in cams but it still proves to be a really useful application.

WWIGO is free to download and it allows you to choose between the Device's main and secondary camera to use as a webcam. You can quickly connect to any laptop / desktop that is bluetooth-enabled.

screenshots:

You can download this application from here

Nokia puts an END to MOSH

Nokia internet service MOSH (Mobilize and Share) is soon going to be discontinued. This file (applications/ ringtones etc) sharing site is soon going to be merged into Nokia's Ovi Internet Services. MOSH that started in 2007 has attracted many users who upload and download applications via PC or directly from their Nokia Devices.

It will be soon integrated into Ovi services as Download! and the widgets from WidSets. However No exact date is known as to when the merging is going to take place

Nokia N86 8MP: Video

Here is a Video of the newly revealed Nokia N86 8MP. It's simply marvellous isn't it  ?!!!

Nokia unviels 8 MP Nseries!

Nokia has unvieled its 8 MP Nseries Device, The N86, which will be its Flagship Imaging Device.

Yesterday at MWC, the Nokia N86 made its debut! the N86 will have S60 v5 software edition running on it which is NOT touchscreen. 

The N86 basically looks like the N85 BUT has a stand like the Nokia N96. Now thats a Good move by Nokia. The device being a dual slider just like the N95's , N96 and N85 is a Fantastic Mutimedia Device which is loaded with features like an 8 Megapixel Camera armed with a 3rd generation dual LED flash!

However its about 149 gms. in weight which is a little bit too heavy. The device should be available in Q2 of 2009.

• 
  
• 
  
• 
  
• Some specs are given below: 
  
• 1200 maH battery
• OLED 2.6" display 240x320 resolution
• 8 MP camera 
• Scratch Resistant Hard Glass front
• 3rd generation dual LED flash
• 8GB internal storage with micro SD slot
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Valentine's Day Themes For Your S60 device

It's just two days left for Valentine's Day and how can there not be Themes for your Nokia Device!

So here we are with two themes which I found today while browsing some of my favorite blogs.

1. Happy Valentines Day theme - by Jimmy

Found this one while browsing pages on everyones favorite blog Symbian-Guru. This is a really nice theme with great colors and its also my current theme on my N95 8GB. 

So head over to Jimmy's Blog to download this Valentine's Day theme for your Nokia Device

2. Valentine 2009 by Pizero

One of my favorite Theme makers Pizero has created a Valentine's Day theme. This one can be downloaded from here.

N78 Review: Micky's Blog

Micky from Micky's Blog, has recieved a Nokia N78 from Nseries WOM World. 

He has put up a brief, but good review about it on "Micky's Blog". Click here to check out the review and comment on it!